How can movement be included in learning to read? In today's episode, Elizabeth speaks with Stefanie Hohl, the creator of ABC See, Hear, Do, which is a multi-sensory approach to learning to read. Stefanie believes in getting kids moving when reading and she shares many ideas about how this can be done.

In this episode, we discuss:

- What a multi-sensory approach to literacy is?

- How active kids can be supported when they are learning to read,

- Ideas to get kids moving during literacy instruction, and

- The books that Stefanie has as a part of her program.

You can find more about Stefanie's work here: https://www.abcseeheardo.com/?srsltid=AfmBOop4Jrr5HTfGQ_e-1zFq-dvpWS1sPFXocDG6moDas31lcvzGLQkk

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Is handwriting important now that kids have access to technology and devices in school? Many parents are concerned about their children's penmanship. Should handwriting be taught in schools? The answer to these questions is yes. Handwriting should be taught in school (and so should cursive writing).

Dr. Cheryl Lundy Swift is the Professional Learning Director at Learning Without Tears - the program that includes Handwriting Without Tears. She is on today's episode to talk about the role of handwriting in a literacy curriculum.

In this episode, Dr. Swift shares:

- the connection between reading and writing

- how handwriting can be included in instruction - in just 10 minutes a day!

- how digital literacy is supported by handwriting instruction

- lots of resources to support elementary aged readers and writers (many of which are free)!

Check out the resources at Learning Without Tears: https://www.lwtears.com/solutions/technology?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAlbW-BhCMARIsADnwasqc0J1mxY6zpLM5m6IyolNcneSUY2J7-qjd8xqPZsOGwp5ZsTYncagaAqhqEALw_wcB

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What behaviors signal that kids are frustrated when they are reading?

This week's episode focuses on three behaviors that can signal that kids may be frustrated when reading. The behaviors include:

- Hanging onto one detail from the book

- Looking for a distraction

- Not having books that kids want to read

Elizabeth explains these behaviors and offers some suggestions about how we as teachers (and parents) can support our elementary and early middle schoolers with reading.

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The start of the new year brought a lot of questions about reading responses. It seems like teachers started assigning reading responses at the start of 2025. A question I kept getting is, "Do reading responses really help?"

The short answer is yes, reading responses can help kids better understand what they read.

Today's episode starts with the point of reading responses and what the research says about reading responses. I give tips for teachers to consider when assigning reading responses and suggestions for parents to support their kids at home.

The episode ends with a book recommendation for more independent readers in the upper elementary to early middle school grades. It's a wake up in the future book - similar to 13 Going on 30!

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Happy New Year! Welcome to 2025!

In this first episode of 2025, Elizabeth is speaking with Kourtney Hake and Paige Timmerman about their recent book, Their Stories, Their Voices, which focuses on narrative writing and how to easily implement narrative writing units into your instruction.

Paige and Kourtney discuss how they define narrative writing and talk about how they structured this book. They really worked to make it possible to implement narrative writing as seamless as possible and without extra work. They give lots of examples from their own teaching and have excellent mentor texts for narrative writing. One of my favorite parts of our conversation is the discussion about how we as teachers can work with students to include their voices in all genres of writing - not only narratives.

For more ideas, check out Kourtney and Paige's book. You can find it here: https://www.solutiontree.com/their-stories-their-voices.html. It is a great resource to support your writing instruction in the new year!

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Happy Holidays! It's the holiday edition of The Literacy Teacher's Podcast.

In the spirit of the season of reflection, this week's episode is dedicated to taking the time to think about your teaching in 2024 - what went well and also what changes you want to make in 2025.

Elizabeth focused on the following areas of her teaching this year:

- Planning

- Students

- Instruction/Teaching

- Materials for Students

- Tools When Planning

Take some time to consider your own teaching and what small tweaks you can make in the new year.

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Should kids have independent reading time in school?

In order for kids to become stronger and more engaged readers, they need time to read. But, that time needs to be intentional. We don't want kids spending independent reading time staring out the windows or re-reading the same page over and over to pass the time and check the work off the list.

In this episode, I share five tips to make independent reading time more intentional and effective. The great news - all of these can be implemented with a few tweaks rather than spending hours trying to make it work.

Before ending, I share my book project for the rest of the year and January.

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How can we effectively teach literacy to students? In this episode, Norene Bunt speaks about her recent book, Solving the Literacy Puzzle, and how effective literacy instruction can be implemented. Some of the topics discussed include:

- Effective literacy instruction

- Components of literacy instruction at the elementary level

- Comprehension and how to ensure that it is a focus of reading instruction

You can check out Norene's book at: https://www.solutiontree.com/solving-the-literacy-puzzle.html

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This week's episode focuses on reading comprehension and how to include it into reading instruction. The following is addressed:

- Why we read

- How to assess reading comprehension

- How to include a structured approach to comprehension into reading instruction

The episode ends with ideas for how parents can address comprehension when reading with kids at home.

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What other ways can you read with students other than through interactive read-alouds?

This week's episode is all about shared reading and how to include this into your teaching to support students' reading fluency and comprehension.

Elizabeth begins by explaining shared reading and what it looks like in practice. She talks about the types of texts that are commonly used in shared reading and how they are different from the texts used in interactive read-alouds. Shared reading supports a variety of skills - which are addressed.

Finally, Elizabeth ends with how shared reading can be beneficial to parents when they are reading at home with their kids.

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